After the lorry hit a roadside pole, one of the two attackers stepped out and threw home- made explosives at the exercising police officers. According to Xinhua news agency, 14 policemen were killed instantly while two died on the way to hospital. Around 16 police officers also suffered injuries in the attack.
The two attackers, aged 28 and 33, were arrested immediately. They were later identified as members of the Uighur group. “ We were awakened by two very loud bangs,” said Siegfried Maurer, a German who was staying with his family at the Barony Hotel close to the attack site.
The police in Kashgar, which is close to the Tajikistan border and around 4,000 km from Beijing, immediately imposed a lockdown in the surrounding areas.
“ There were around 20 policemen on our floor. They checked our cameras to see if we had taken any pictures of the incident. We were not allowed to leave for four hours,” Maurer said.
“ Everything has returned to normal”, an official with the Kashgar People’s Armed Police said, refusing to comment further. China’s state media carries only sporadic reports about the violence in Xinjiang, making it difficult to determine the extent of the terrorist threat in the region. “ If 16 people died, this is the highest casualty ever reported for an incident in Xinjiang ,” said Nicholas Bequelin, a researcher with Human Rights Watch and an expert on Xinjiang.
Categories : 
1:31 AM
Moderate Islamist here
0 comments:
Post a Comment